On the contrary, Britain had gradually evolved the principle that she acted as a trustee, with the intention of helping the more backward races to improve their own conditions and io take an increasing part in the work of government until ultimately, they stood on their own feet and governed themselves.
It was in this spirit that Britain administered the mandates entrusted to her, and the Colonies for which she was responsible. Though no doubt she had made mistakes, she had endeavoured to learn from her errors, It was in this spirit that she framed and passed the Government of India Act and, again, it was in this spirit that she developed the final conception of Dominion status within the Empire, These sister nations, still united by allegiance to the King, and this unity of thought and sentiment, made the British Empire today one of the bulwarks of peace, since all the world knew that it was to the establishment and the maintenance of peace that Britain's united efforts would always be devoted, Tientsin Situation Meanwhile, Mr. Chamberlain continued, "we have been reminded that Europe is not the only centre of disturbance by recent events in the Far East, "A local dispute between ourselves and the Japanese over the alleged complicity of certain Chinese in a murder has been followed by the blockade of the British and French Concessions in Tientsin and by the high-handed, insulting treatment of British subjects by Japanese soldiers.
"The matter has been further complicated by public statements on the part of local Japanese officials, making incidents a pretext for far-reaching and quite inadmissible claims for the alteration of a policy which we and other governments have hitherto followed in these regions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.